Halal dishes that fit your family and your lifestyle

I made the mistake of not preparing this breakfast the night before. If I had, I am guessing this morning instead of taking 40 minutes to set the table and serve the food, it might have taken me not more than 10 minutes to do.

This breakfast is so healthy and so simple to make, not to mention inexpensive. Instead of sugary and expensive cereals, breakfast bars and muffins, I opted for more protein and healthy dairy, fruit and herbal tea this morning.

On the menu:Cheese and Olive Plate: Feta, smoked mozzarella, sour cream and cream cheese- each sprinkled with dried parsley flakes and olive oil; mixed olives in the middle

Hard Boiled Eggs: Thinly sliced, these were great with the bread and cheeses.

Artisanal Wheat Bread: If you don’t have time to bake your own, buy from a grocery store, bakery or farmer’s market. Be sure to buy only whole grain bread for optimal health benefits.

Plain Yogurt: Goes great on your bread and with the eggs. You could also mix some fruit in it to reduce some of the sour taste of plain yogurt.

Fruit Plate: Today I arranged dates, oranges and sliced bananas because that’s what I had on hand. Serve whatever is fresh and seasonal.

Blueberry Flavored Herbal Tea: This Bigelow tea was absolutely delicious. I love all flavors of herbal teas and coffees in the morning, so long as it’s nice and hot and goes along with the meal. Just makes the morning a bit easier… (http://www.bigelowtea.com/)

Shopping at Costco is both exciting and overwhelming. I always worry that I’ll miss something and equally worry that I’ll buy something in my excitement for the variety and quantity that is not actually halal.

With regards to one product, my worry was replaced with delight when I was studying the cheese aisle. Which flavor should I choose for the meals I plan to create this week? Should I experiment with European varieties or stick to the American varieties I already know? Should I buy slices, blocks or cubes?

I stumbled upon a Vermont brand I’m familiar with from shopping at Trader Joe’s- it was the Cabot brand of Vermont. When I turned it over to search for the ingredients, I discovered a Halal certification symbol right next to the Kosher certification symbol. I had to blink to make sure I wasn’t just seeing what I wanted to see. Sure enough, it was real, but on only this type of cheese made by Cabot, not the other varieties at this particular Costco (Mt. Prospect, IL).

Here are the details of the cheese:

Sharp Classic Vermont Cheddar Cheese made by Cabot of Vermont. Net wt. 2 LB. Ingredients: Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes. Manufactured by Cabot Creamery, Cabot, VT 05647. http://www.cabotcheese.com/ They even have a Cabot blog! http://www.cabotblog.com/products/. It appears you cannot buy their products online, but the website does have a store locator and a host of recipes and other information about cheese that is quite thoghtful of its consumers. No wonder, it’s dairy-farmer owned, since 1919.

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are entirely based on the author's own personal tastes, which may obviously be different from others who try the same product(s). The reviewer aslo declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from a restaurant or food product company for writing any review.